


because i (never) knew you

by orphan_account



Category: EOS 10 (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Separated at birth AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2018-08-15 20:58:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8072521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Once upon a time, there was the story you know, and the story you don’t.





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

> so before I crack into Ellie's big fic, I need to get this giant au out of my system. i'm breaking it into small chapters for my sanity's sake, but it'll get done quickly.

Once upon a time, there was the story you know, and the story you don’t.

Once upon a time there was a brother and a sister who loved each other very much. They were together from the very beginning to the end, running and stumbling and dancing through life as siblings do. Some called them two sides of a coin. Others called them two halves of a nightmare. They called themselves friends.

They made mistakes, as people are apt to do, but were always there to pull the other back from danger. People change people, and they shaped each other’s lives for the better and worse. But through all of that, one thing was for certain: they were twins, and no matter what, they always had each other.

Once upon a time, they didn’t.

Once upon a time their mother and their father realized that they didn’t love each other much earlier, and decided that it was for the best if the twins were separated. So, the little boy went with his mother, and the little girl went with her father, and suddenly our story is very different indeed.

The little girl was named Ellie Dalias, and she grew up splitting time between the color and life of New Orleans that danced in her blood, and the cold, dark reaches of space. In this life, she was harder, scrappier, sharper. Her words scraped and stung, always a little too loud and a little too fast. Her knuckles began bruising sooner, and the little part of her that whispered of what fear could do soon grew into a roar. Yes, she was bubbly and bright and always longing for adventure, for something more, but as the years passed you had to look harder to see it, and more often than not she wouldn’t give you the chance to.

She only just made it into the Alliance military academy, and the Admiral had to pull more than a few strings to get her there. Her teammates were wary of the loud young woman with the shock of bubblegum hair and a mouth that made even the cockiest recruit burst into tears, and her superiors had no tolerance. Within a few weeks, she was discharged from the Academy due to a training accident that left another student seriously wounded. 

The Admiral was furious. Yelling could be heard from his office for an hour after Ellie was sent in. It would have continued for an hour more, if not for a few words that changed everything.

“This is disgraceful,” he stormed, “I expect better from you, Ellie! And you’re not even sorry!”

Ellie dug her nails harder into her palms, which were starting to bleed. 

“I’ve told you multiple times now, it wasn’t my fault! Of course I’m not sorry!”

“You’re right, it’s my fault, because none of this would’ve happened if I had taken Ryan instead!”

Ellie recoiled as if she had been smacked, and her father froze. After a few moments, she managed to choke out, “W- what?”

“Ellie, I-”

“No, no who’s Ryan? What do you mean, ‘if you had taken him’?”

“You have to understand-”

“Was there someone else? Do I have a brother? Oh my God, I have a brother? And you never told me?”

“I was going to-”

“No,” Ellie interrupted, quieter than she had been in a long time, “you never were.”

Without saying another word, she turned and walked out of the office. Within a few minutes, an Alliance pod was reported missing.

No one went after it.

A few months later, The Alliance began receiving reports of a new person popping up on black market tradings. Sources said she went by The Siren, and was known for her mane of pink hair, and total lack of mercy.

Admiral Dalias put his head in his hands for a long time.

A few years into the endeavor, a client paired Ellie up with the man infamous for destroying the Adraerian Sector. She was wholly unimpressed.

“You’re Akmazian? Destroyer of Stars?” she asked incredulously.

“I take it you don’t know how I got the name,” he replied.

“I know. I just don’t care.”

The run went horribly wrong, both of them nearly died, and Ellie gained several scars that day.

A partnership was born.

“I want to make a deal with you,” Akmazian said, once she was rested enough. Ellie raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

“I’m innocent. I never destroyed anything; someone else did and pinned it on me because I knew too much. Word is, y’all aren’t a big fan of the Alliance either. You help me prove my innocence, and I’ll return the favor.”

Ellie looked at him for a long time, then stared down at the metal floor of her ship. “I have a brother,” she said quietly.

Akmazian looked surprised, but said nothing.

“My dad blurted it out when we fought just before I left the academy. We were seperated at birth when our parents divorced, and I want to find him.”

He nodded, and held out his hand. Ellie took it.

The little boy was named Ryan Dupont, and he grew up in a nice little house in a nice little neighborhood in Paris with his mother.

From a very young age, everyone around him could sense that he was different. Now, this other-ness is there no matter which story you chose, but it persisted for much longer. Ryan had no model of social normalcy to base his behaviors off of, and no one to help him come out of his shell. He eventually did find friends through the swim team, but never spoke up as much as they did. 

The accident still happened, as accidents tend to do. There’s the pain, and the desperation, and the long, long road that’s just a little bit longer in this world. Ryan still graduates, but not at the top of his class, and not as soon as he might have. There’s no one in the crowd for him, this time.

The years afterward are jumbled. Ryan is a little thinner, a little more bruised, a little darker around the eyes. The few freckles he has fade quicker, and he sometimes wishes, while hiding in the supply closet on a break, digging his nails into his palms and breathing quickly, that there was someone out there who knew.

It’s a small world, you see, but a very big universe.

This time, the Admiral watched his son from afar, putting in a word now and then about the boy he had seemingly taken a liking to at the Academy. He still gave Ryan a call and told him about a travel hub on the very outer reaches of space, and might he be interested in doing him a favor?

He is, and the world spins along as it does, albeit, a little crooked.


	2. Spark

The moment Ellie stepped out of the Silent Storm and into the cargo bay, she felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was like a string was attached to it, and was pulling her forwards. She frowned, and shook her head, as if it would dispel the sensation.

“Somethin’ wrong?” Akmazian asked, looking over at her.

“I’m fine,” she replied, a little distantly. “So, why are we here again? I thought that prince guy still had a week left to pay his tab.”

“He doesn’t, but that’s not why. Apparently we have some intruders, and I’m in just the right mood to put the fear of God in them.” He paused for a moment, then added, “Or more specifically, the fear of me.”

Ellie shot him a look. “Try again.”

“Fine, the fear of us. Happy, princess?”

“Very. Let’s go.”

They continued down the dark corridor towards the main area in silence, and Ellie found that the closer they got, the more the pulling feeling intensified. About halfway there, a sharp pain slammed into her brain. She hissed, and put a hand to her forehead.

“What?” Akmazian said immediately, but she waved him off. 

“Nothing, just a headache. Guess it’s from the new meds.”

He looked unconvinced, but said nothing.

When they reached the end of the hallway, Akmazian stepped out of the shadows before her, saying, “You come as Alliance spies.”

Ellie followed him, making sure to keep a hand on her holster, and added, “Stupid ones, no less. What’s a bunch of goodie-two-shoes doing down here?”

The main area of the cargo bay was peppered with henchmen, all pointing their weapons at a group of wary looking people. There was Levi (because of course that idiot was involved), an old man, some girl that Ellie hadn’t seen before but who was _definitely_ cute and…

Ellie froze. 

Standing at the head of the group, looking supremely uncomfortable, was a man. He was short, with a shock of peach pink hair that just brushed the tops of his glasses, and was standing sort of funny, and crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt to look simultaneously bigger and smaller. In the dim light, Ellie could just make out a very faint sprinkling of freckles across his nose, and a pair of dark blue eyes.

He looked exactly like her. 

As quickly as she had faltered, Ellie schooled her expression into one of bored indifference. She had to be sure; there was no room for error with this.

While she had been panicking, Akmazian and the man (she didn’t want to say it, couldn’t say it) had been talking. Ellie cut in, “You, with the glasses and the sweater, what’s your name?”

He looked at her funny for a moment, and said, “I- I’m sorry?”

She glared at him, and repeated, “Your name, rose-top.”

Caution won out, apparently, and the man replied, “Uh- Dr. Ryan Dupont.”

Ellie felt her stomach drop into her shoes. The voice, which sounded so much like hers, but deeper, wasn’t the final nail in the coffin. It was the name. The odds were too low… it was too much of a coincidence. It had to be him.

She had found Ryan. And he was a fucking Alliance doctor.

Ellie drew one of her pistols faster than a blink, and in a few strides had crossed the room. She shoved the barrel under Ry- her bro- _Dr. Dupont’s_ chin, and growled, “Don’t fucking lie to me you little bastard, what’s your name?”

His eyes widened, and he stammered, “I- I- I’m not lying! That’s my name- please don’t shoot me!”

Ellie looked him in the eyes for a long moment, before lowering her gun and taking a step back. She laughed, low and humorless. “So, it really is you then.” she said quietly to herself.

“I- I’m sorry?” Dr. Dupont asked, still shaking.

“Nothing,” she snapped, still glaring at him, and slowly returned to Akmazian’s side.

“What the hell was that about?” he hissed at her.

“It’s him,” she whispered back.

Akmazian looked surprised for a moment, before giving her a look that said, _Are you sure?_ Ellie gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible nod, and he returned it.

The story came out (Ellie burst out laughing, because karma could be bitch, but when it liked you, it was a beautiful thing) and the deal was made, and everything was going fine until Dr. Dupont said, “Don’t compare us.”

Ellie raised an eyebrow at him, which he noticed. “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said faux-lightly, “it’s just funny.”

“What is?”

“You saying that he shouldn’t compare you to us, when you’re part of the Alliance.”

Dr. Dupont frowned, and his shoulders stiffened. “That doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

“Oh, I think it does,” Ellie continued, an icy chill beginning to stir in her chest. “I think it has everything to do with this, because you say that we’re a pair of morally screwed criminals, when you’re working for the very organization that put us in this position in the first place.”

“You can’t possibly-”

“Believe that he’s innocent? Of course. Wake up and smell the secrets, doc, there’s a conspiracy right under your upturned little nose, and it sure as hell ain’t pretty. The Alliance has plenty of dark parts, sweetheart, parts that would make you sick. You think we’ve done some bad shit? You ain’t seen nothing yet. That little intergalactic kumbaya circle of yours is gonna come all fall down one day, and people like you are gonna be left in the wreckage, wondering where it all went wrong. And that’s if you're lucky.”

Dr. Dupont looked horrified for a moment, before snorting with disbelief. “Really? Name a member of this ‘dark side’, if you will.”

A cat-like smile spread across Ellie’s face, with not an inch of warmth within it. “I assume you’ve made the acquaintance of the Admiral Dalias?”

Dr. Dupont looked horrified once again. “I- are you crazy? He would never-”

“Oh, no, he’s not part of the conspiracy. I’ll give him that. He’s a bastard though, through and through.”

Drawing himself up to his full height (which still wasn’t much), Dr. Dupont said fiercely, “Admiral Dalias is one of the best men I have ever met, and you’re more of a liar than I thought to call him anything otherwise.”

Ellie chuckled coldly. “One of the best men you ever met, huh? Hate to break it to ya doc, but that asshole’s ruined lives. You think he’s _so great_ , that he’s a ‘good man’, but you don’t know a damn thing.”

She knew she was going too far, but suddenly the words were coming before she could stop them. “Akmazian and I have done shitty things, I’ll admit that, but the whole reason we have to do them is because people fucked up, and we ended up as the fall guy! But no, call him a hero, call him a fucking paragon of nobility and justice, call him a good fucking man, and you’ll be just as much of a liar as you think I am! That son of a bitch doesn’t give a damn who he hurts as long as his precious reputation stays intact, even at the expense of his own goddamn daughter!”

The moment the words flew out of Ellie’s mouth, she realized what she had said, and froze.

A heavy silence hung in the cargo bay for several long moments, before Dr. Dupont choked out, “You… you’re his daughter? You’re Eloise Dalias?”

Ellie stayed frozen with panic for a second, before taking a deep breath and tensely replying, “So what if I am?”

“Well, I mean-”

“You don’t have to give us my tragic four-one-one, doc. We’ve all heard the stories.” 

The barest semblance of a smirk was forced onto her face. “So. Your daddy dearest is a manipulative asshole. Happy?”

“My- what?”

“Oh come on,” Ellie sneered, “you’re a smart guy doc, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. The hair, the voice, the face. It ain’t every day you meet someone who looks exactly like you.”

Dr. Dupont’s eyes darted up and down her for a second, before he sighed heavily. “You’re my sister.”

“Bingo. Although, twin, actually.”

“I… no!” he exclaimed, frustrated, “we can’t be twins, you’re a- a criminal!”

“And you work for the people that made me this way in the first place! Welcome to the family jewels doc. It everything you imagined?”

He opened his mouth to argue again, but thought better of it and closed it. “No,” he replied quietly, “not at all.”

All traces of humor gone, Ellie said callously, “Same here. Look on the bright side though: at least you know I’m not gonna be spreading the news that Dr. Dupont’s sister is one of the Alliance’s most wanted.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Fuck no.”

The rest of the night went as you know it, albeit much colder. Fewer words were exchanged, and the two pairs of identical eyes refused to meet again. Once the doctors and Levi left, Ellie turned on her heel and walked as fast as she could back to the Silent Storm. Akmazian didn't say a word, just set a course and flew them away as soon as possible.

The next morning, when Ellie left her room with grey and red around her eyes, he handed her a mug of coffee.

“My brother wants me dead,” she said quietly.

“Congratulations,” he replied.


	3. Burn

The moment Akmazian and Dupont started arguing in the control room of the Silent Storm, Ellie made a tactical retreat (don't think about it don't think about it dear gods don't think about it) to the book room. 

 

It wasn't exactly a library per say- more like a storage room that Ellie had dumped the few books she owned in, Akmazian had added a few more, and things had sort of just spiraled from there. It was small, with just enough room for a ratty old couch they had picked up, some bookshelves built using Akmazian’s memory of working on his childhood ranch, and a good-sized porthole that looked out into the blackness outside. The shelves were stuffed with a number of different volumes, from the engine repair manuals they needed all too often, to Akmazian’s collections of literary classics and trashy romance novels (Ellie only judged him a little bit), to the sets of encyclopedias Ellie had “tactically removed” from the storeroom of a crooked collector. The end table next to the couch was perpetually speckled with a mixture of candle wax and engine grease, and the room had the distinctive smell of a deep south establishment of Kentucky Fried Chicken that had been abandoned suddenly, and had remained so for several days. 

 

As the sounds of arguing faded into what Ellie hoped was a civil silence, she grabbed the book she had been reading from where it had been tossed on the side table, and plopped down on the couch. It was a battered old copy of _Variations on a Theme: the Memoir of Captain Isabelle Lovelace_. She thumbed through it for some time, not so much reading as letting her eyes drift lazily over the words. Slowly, she forgot about the other man in the control room with Akmazian, and the faint pulse in the back of her mind that felt worryingly familiar.

 

At least, until familiar decided to ruin that.

 

“Ellie?” Dupont said, poking his head in, “I didn't know you were in here.”

 

Without looking up from her book, Ellie snapped, “Weren’t supposed to. Don't call me that.”

 

Dupont looked confused. “Your name? But-”

 

“You wanna get to Io or not, sweetheart? ‘Siren’ or else.”

 

“Or else what?”

 

She glanced up, and shot Dupont a look that would have frozen hot coals. 

 

“Siren. Got it,” he amended quickly. 

 

Not taking the hint to leave, he began looking through the shelves.

 

“What are you doing?” Ellie asked sharply. 

 

“Well, I just spent the last three hours getting hit on in ways I never, ever want to again, so I am trying to find something to read.

 

Internally, she bristled at the thought of being within several feet of Dupont for more than a minute, but held her tongue. She had to admit, she was curious about the doctor, and this was a good opportunity to satisfy it.

 

He chose one of Akmazian’s; _How to Light a River_ , and settled down in the chair across from Ellie.

 

Now that he was in the room with her, however, Ellie’s concentration went out the window. Every little movement set her on edge, and eventually she snapped the book shut with a huff.

 

“Something wrong?” Dupont asked, looking up. 

 

“Just you,” she replied hotly. Dupont sighed in response. 

 

“Okay,” he said, closing his book, “what is your problem with me?”

 

“Where do you want me to begin?”

 

“Oh, I don't know, maybe why you're being such a jerk?”

 

“So I'm the one being a jerk, okay.”

 

“Yes!” Dupont yelled, exasperated, “you are! Look, I have been nothing but nice to you, and you're just acting like a bitch!”

 

“Okay,” Ellie shot back, “so I'm the bitch, but you coming back into the cargo bay with a giant-ass rifle, ready to blow Akmazian and I to pieces, is just the picture of kindness.” At his expression, she added, “You think I didn’t know that? Who the hell do you think told Akmazian to leave in the first place. You’re far too predictable, Dr. Dupont.”

 

Dupont bristled at the jab, and said, “Maybe I wouldn’t have come back down there if you two weren’t a pair of the Alliance’s most wanted.”

 

“And who’s fault is that?”

 

“Yours!”

 

“Nope! Try again, honey.”

 

Dupont ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “Look, I get that you have this big vendetta against your- … our, dad, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to believe whatever crap you’re trying to sell me about him. He’s a great man, and I just don’t understand how his daughter could grow up to be so ridiculously awful.”

 

Ellie rolled her eyes and stood up, stalking over to where Dupont was sitting. “You think I had it all that great, don’t you?”

 

In response, Dupont rose as well. “Certainly better than me.”

 

She smirked condescendingly. “Mmhmm. I’m sure.”

 

Something dark flashed in Dupont’s eyes. “You don’t have a damn idea what my life was like, so I’m gonna suggest you back off.”

 

“Not until you admit that mine was rougher.”

 

“No chance in hell.”

 

Ellie drew herself up to her full height, and squared her shoulders, the ice-cold feeling in her gut making an abrupt return. There was something about the way Dupont had said it that had riled her up to full capacity in just seconds. “Oh yeah? Try growing up between one of the most crime-ridden cities in the world, and fucking space. Try being scared to walk home at night when your dad, who’s basically never around because God forbid he tear himself away from his oh-so-important work, is on Earth, because you’re a fucking teenage girl with a rack in the territory of at least three different gangs, one of which you join when you’re fourteen. Try looking your Dad in the eyes when you come home with blood everywhere and six new cuts, only three of which someone else made, and a black eye that’s gonna be a bitch to cover up the next day. Try watching him bail you out of jail yet again, and then give you that fucking _look_ ; I’m sure you know the one. Or, better yet, when you’re not on Earth, try spending the other half of your time on a cold-ass spaceship with only a bunch of snobby military brats for company, and dignitaries and soldiers who think you aren’t worth the time of day. And don’t even get me started on your one parent barely being around, so you’re basically 3/4ths an orphan!”

 

Dupont looked at little taken aback at this, but stood firm. “You want to talk shitty childhoods? Try always being the odd one out, because you have this stupid disorder that fucks up your brain and makes it so you’re a pretty terrible candidate for ‘kid that people actually like and don’t just keep around to do their homework’. Try getting all that typical bully shit handed to you on a silver platter, because guess what? Hollywood wasn’t exaggerating. Try wanting so badly those friendships that everyone else seems to have, but you don’t get because life sucks, deal with it. People like me don’t get a happy ending, _Siren_. We don’t get a ‘best friend since forever’ or a soulmate, or any of that! We get half a page in the history books, and a shiny sticker on our grave to show the world we didn’t fuck up too badly. Oh, and how could I forget the terrible coping methods that come with the territory!”

 

He kept going on after that, and Ellie could have sworn she heard something about spinal columns and Razorside (an insanely dangerous drug who’s tainted effects she had seen only once, and wouldn’t wish on anyone, not even Dupont), but she began to argue over the top of him. Their voices grew louder and louder, each trying to outdo the other, until suddenly they shouted at the same time, “-the only family that I had-!”

 

And stopped cold in their tracks. For a brief moment, there was only silence, as the words hung in the air like frozen raindrops. Then, as if some strange spell had come over them, they finished in unison, “... gave up on me.”

 

They were both quiet again for a long time, a strange, melancholy feeling blooming in both of their chests, before Ellie spoke. “You mentioned drugs.”

 

“You mentioned a gang,” Dupont replied quickly.

 

“So I did.”

 

They regarded each other for a moment, sizing the other up carefully. Then, the tiniest of wry smiles flickered onto their faces.

 

“So,” Dupont said, still looking at Ellie with caution, “it appears we’re at an impasse.”

 

“I guess so.”

 

“I take it you’d rather not discuss any of what we yelled at each other in blind anger?”

 

“That’d be nice, yeah.”

 

Dupont nodded crisply, and slowly sat back down and reopened his book. Ellie did the same. They continued to peek at each other over the tops for the next few hours, until Dupont appeared to doze off.

 

Ellie quietly slipped out of the room and into the copilot’s chair next to Akmazian.

 

“Everything alright?” he asked. “I heard a helluva lot’ve yelling coming from the library.”

 

Ellie shrugged. “I guess we’ll see,” she said. The hum in the back of her mind seemed to pulse happily, as if the brief connection they had made had pleased it somehow.

 

 _Shut up_ , she told it.


End file.
